New York, NY - May 9th, 2008
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Concerts Are Continuation of Mr. Maazel’s Cycle of Mahler Symphonies, Begun at the Start of His Philharmonic Tenure in 2002–03
JUNE 4–5, 7, AND 13, 2008
Music Director Lorin Maazel will lead the New York Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, Wednesday and Thursday, June 4 and 5, 2008, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 7, at 8:00 p.m. and Friday, June 13 at 2:00 p.m. as part of the New York Philharmonic’s Season Finale. Mr. Maazel has performed a Mahler symphony at the end of every season since the start of his tenure in the 2002–03 season.
The Season Finale of the New York Philharmonic includes performances of Puccini’s Tosca in concert version (June 12, 14, 17, and 19) and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 (June 20–21), all conducted by Mr. Maazel. [See individual releases for details.]
Related Events:
• Pre-Concert Talk
Charles Zachary Bornstein, the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, will introduce the program one hour before each performance. Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656
• National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of June 16, 2008,* on The New York
Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than
250 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by WFMT’s Kerry Frumkin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Philharmonic’s corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 96.3 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. [*Check local listings for broadcast and program information.]
• New York Philharmonic Podcast
The producers and hosts of the New York Philharmonic Podcast are Elliott Forrest, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, producer, and afternoon host of 96.3 FM WQXR, and Mark Travis, a producer for the WFMT Radio Network since 1999 and the producer of the 52-week-per-year nationally syndicated radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week. These previews of upcoming programs, through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians, are available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.
Following is a chronology of the Mahler symphonies conducted by Mr. Maazel at the New York Philharmonic:
June 19–21, 2003 Symphony No. 2, Resurrection
September 18–20, 23, 2003 Symphony No. 5
June 16–19, 2004 Symphony No. 3
June 22–25, 2005 Symphony No. 6
September 22–24, 27, 2005 Symphony No. 1
September 20–22, 26, 2006 Symphony No. 4
June 20–23, 2007 Symphony No. 7
June 4–5, 7, 13, 2008* Symphony No. 9
September 25–27, 2008* Adagio from Symphony No. 10
June 24–27, 2009* Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand
*scheduled
Artist
Lorin Maazel, who has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances, became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the Orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then the Orchestra’s summer venue. As Music Director he has conducted seven World Premiere–New York Philharmonic Commissions, including the Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams; Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3; and Melinda Wagner’s Trombone Concerto. He has led cycles of works by Brahms and Beethoven. He also conducted the Orchestra’s inaugural performances in the DG Concerts series — a groundbreaking initiative to offer downloadable New York Philharmonic concerts exclusively on iTunes.
Mr. Maazel has taken the Orchestra on numerous international tours, including Asia 2008 — to Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing; and to Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the first visit there by an American orchestra, for a groundbreaking concert on February 26. Other trips included the May 2007 Tour of Europe; the November 2006 visit to Japan and Korea; the June 2006 Philharmonic Tour of Italy, sponsored by Generali; and in autumn 2005, the two-part 75th Anniversary European Tour to thirteen cities in five countries. Previously, he conducted the Philharmonic on tours to Asia, three southern U.S. states, the American Midwest, and in residencies in Sardinia and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.
In addition to the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Maazel is Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, and Italy’s Symphonica Toscanini. He has served as music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1993–2002), and has held positions as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988–96); general manager and chief conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (1982–84 — the first American to hold that position); music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1972–82); and artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965–71).
Repertoire
Gustav Mahler began work on his last complete symphony, Symphony No. 9, in 1909 — the year that also marked his first season as music director of the New York Philharmonic — and finished the work in April 1910. In 1911, Mahler’s time with the Orchestra came to an end, his health deteriorating. The 50-year-old composer died later that year, never having heard a public performance of this sweeping symphonic masterpiece. Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 reflects his acute awareness of his own mortality — doctors had diagnosed a life-threatening heart condition two years earlier — and its music probes the depths of life and death, themes Mahler also explored in two other final works, Das Lied von der Erde and the unfinished Symphony No. 10. Symphony No. 9 has often been interpreted as a farewell, both to life and to the 19th-century Romanticism that Mahler’s work embodied.
In June 1912, Mahler’s friend and disciple, Bruno Walter, conducted the symphony’s premiere in Vienna; Walter also conducted the New York Philharmonic’s first performance in December 1945, not long before he began his own tenure as the Orchestra’s music director (1947–49). Kurt Masur led the most recent performances, on tour in Germany in June 2000.
Credit Suisse is the Global Sponsor of the New York Philharmonic.
The BASF Concert Series is presented by BASF Corporation.
The Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence program is underwritten by a generous gift from Sandy and Steve Perlbinder, with additional generous support from Richard Nordlof and The Elmar Fund.
96.3 FM WQXR is the Radio Home of the New York Philharmonic.
Programs of the New York Philharmonic are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Single tickets for these performances are $37 to $107. Tickets for Pre-Concert Talks are $5. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $16. All tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, Lincoln Center, Broadway at 65th Street. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $12 tickets for select concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic’s Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-
5656.
New York Philharmonic - Avery Fisher Hall
Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Open Rehearsal — 9:45 a.m.
Thursday, June 5, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 7, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, June 13, 2008, 2:00 p.m.
Pre-Concert Talk (one hour before each concert) with Charles Zachary Bornstein, the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic
Lorin Maazel, conductor
MAHLER Symphony No. 9
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